Prodigal Prodigy
by Phantom Typewriter
Summary: It all started with stupid, reckless wager. Every time you think things can't worse, something happens to prove you wrong... Seiftis CRACKFIC. You have been warned.
1. The Wager

Author's Notes: This is a pure crack fic that I developed between re-writing one of my other stories and reading somebody _else's_ crack fic. It wasn't my intention to get any ideas, it just sort of came together on its own. Don't assume anything by the first chapter. I can promise that the story is going to get more and more cracked as it goes on.

**Chapter One: The Wager**

Quistis knew this was going to get out of hand. It wasn't an assumption, it was a law. Anything that involved Seifer Almasy got out of hand. No exceptions.

The SeeD team had taken on a mission in Esthar, special request by President-for-life Laguna Loire. Technically he didn't need SeeD's help, but it gave him a chance to call the team into the city for a drink, since his son and someday-daughter-in-law were almost never in town otherwise.

The mission had them paired up with Esthar's resident monster hunting division to help eliminate the monster plague that had been harassing the continent ever since that damned Lunar Cry brought them down in the first place. And Seifer Almasy was the third-in-command of the team that they were working with. He would have been the leader, except that publicly didn't care about the work and the politicians wanted a more popular face to lead their most successful hunting team.

The end result was that Raijin was put in charge, with Fujin as his second-in-command to handle all the politics and paperwork. Fujin was the one actually running things, but she creeped people out with her eyepatch, whereas Raijin was nice and enthusiastic, and Fujin had been giving him lessons in "How to not look stupid" with a beating coming at the end if he didn't catch on. Turns out he was a fast learner was he was motivated by threats. Seifer only hung around because there was plenty of gil to be had, and Laguna kept him around because of his honesty. He might be a jackass, but when he went around telling people he would quit if not for the size of his paycheck a lot of former mercenaries and ex-military suddenly turned good-Samaritan and decided to help clean the continent up.

The mission was a grand success. They were hired to take down a major monster nest on the outskirts of the city that had been particularly troublesome during the past few weeks and ended up wiping out every nest within a five-mile radius of the mission's operational area, courtesy of a bit of "friendly competition" between the two teams. The hunters barely won because they were able to find the monsters faster, thanks to their practice in tracking them over the past few months.

Now the mission was over and both teams were busy relaxing in a local bar. The hunting teams frequented it regularly after missions and Laguna was a common enough sight wandering around the city that nobody even noticed when he stopped by for a drink anymore, so there were no crowds of people watching them. The one place in the world where they were arguably the most famous was the one place they were anonymous.

Laguna was busy chatting away with Squall, talking about anything and everything imaginable. Ever since beating Ultimecia, he had been working day and night to try to reconnect to his long-lost son. For Squall's part, it gave him somebody to talk to other than Rinoa who he knew wouldn't divulge any secrets he told. Of course not. Laguna was too enamored with the idea of playing father to Squall that he wouldn't even consider telling anyone else the things he heard from Squall. Those secrets had to stay in the family. And he was quite fond of Rinoa, too. Pretty, sweet, and the daughter of his political counterpart, Fury Caraway, President of Galbadia. As long as those two were together, peace between Galbadia and Esthar would remain intact.

Raijin and Zell were busy competing to see who could devour more hotdogs in three minutes. Apparently Raijin liked the hotdogs from Garden so much that he made a deal with the bar to have his team become regulars if they started serving hotdogs as a regular meal. They sold surprisingly well, even among non-hunters. Fujin, Selphie, and Irvine were watching the competition and keeping an eye on their own charge, chatting and waiting for the inevitable moment when one or both of them will finally eat too much and need to find the quickest route to the bathroom to dispose of the contents of their over-stuffed innards.

That left Quistis and Seifer sharing the last table, observing the others while having civil discussion. Or rather, as civil a discussion as they could manage.

It started out well enough, trading stories about their work, talking about politics, (something they actually agreed completely on since they both universally hated politicians) and chatting about the weather. Somehow they managed to make the last conversation actually work thanks to the climate difference between Balamb and Esthar, not to mention all the places that the SeeD team visited in the Ragnarok.

Then things turned sour. It started with Seifer criticizing SeeD for depending on a craft that was technically on loan from Esthar. When Quistis tried to defend it as the decision of Laguna, that merely escalated things. Of _course_ Laguna was going to give them handouts. His son was the leader of SeeD and (allegedly) sleeping with Caraway's daughter, so he wanted to keep them as happy as possible and make sure peace was maintained.

Then Quistis brought up Ultimecia, defending their "handouts" as rewards for their success in defeating her, along with all the sorceresses she possessed, as well as all the other "pawns" she controlled.

"For being SeeD's personal slave-girl, you're quick to talk about pawns."

Quistis rolled her eyes. She was used to the criticism by now, and with the way things turned out he didn't have any grounds to make his claims. "You practically _ran_ to become the Sorceress' slave-boy after you failed to even make the cut into SeeD. _You're_ one to talk."

Seifer stood up slightly and leaned forward, talking in a low voice, almost whispering. "I was taking the field exam the same year you graduated, and I arrived at Garden a year after you did. They talk crap about you being a _prodigy_, but I was better right from the start."

"Yet you never graduated."

"I would have if SeeD wasn't as anal about their damn protocol."

"That's part of being a SeeD. If you can't handle it, leave."

"I did." Seifer smiled and sat back down. "And I ended up scoring a job that pays better and sees more action than the crap you people do."

"The work _we_ do is for the _elite_."

"The work _you_ do is for the politicians. They pay your bills and you clean up their messes, while I hunt monsters threatening innocent people every day. Seems like _I_ turned out to be the hero in the end."

"You don't get to call yourself a hero after you've publicly declared that you're only in it for the money."

"The work I do is still better than yours."

"You can't _handle_ the work we do."

"Wanna bet?"

Quistis rolled her eyes. "There's nothing to bet, Seifer."

"Sure there is." He smirked, leaning forward on the table again. "I bet you that I can rejoin SeeD as a cadet, pass every test, and graduate at the SeeD field exam _this_ year."

"The test is in less than two months."

"All the better for you then."

Quistis narrowed her eyes, thinking. On the one hand, the idea of humiliating Seifer was appealing, but on the other hand it was _Seifer_. Even talking to him was a bad idea. Bringing him back to Garden was just asking for trouble, and making him a SeeD? That was suicide.

Still... the chance to defeat Seifer's ego and knock him down was far too tempting. "What are the stakes?" She finally asked after a solid minute of consideration.

Seifer simply smiled. "Whatever you want. Just name it and it's yours, assuming I lose."

"I just want to get your thorn out of our side. Leave SeeD alone forever and retire to obscurity." The chance to get rid of Seifer forever was something that seemed almost too good to be true. If there was even the smallest chance she could succeed, it would be completely worth it.

"Gladly..." Seifer's gave devious grin. "And if I win, I get you."

Quistis only blinked at first. Her mind didn't fully register what he had said. "...Excuse me?"

"You." He repeated, making sure his tone was low enough that nobody around could hear them. "I get _all_ of you, whenever I want."

After another few seconds of consideration, Quistis threw her head back and laughed aloud, drawing everyone's attention to her. "You are so _stupid_." She said flatly, shaking her head. Hearing that – rather unsurprising – comment, just about everyone turned their attention away. Quistis was insulting Seifer. It wasn't exactly national news.

"If you expect me to make a bet like _that_, you've gotta do a _lot_ more than simply make SeeD." She was talking in a low tone again to keep their conversation under the radar. She didn't want anybody else listening, especially since she was talking about Seifer and SeeD in the same sentence. Zell would literally faint from rage if he found out the idea was even being considered.

"What about your _record_?" Seifer grinned again. "A SeeD instructor after only three years. I bet I can make it in _two_."

A lone eyebrow went up as Quistis considered the thought. "An instructor. _You_. In two years."

"If it's impossible, you have no reason to say no." Seifer was determined. He was absolutely committed to this bet. Whether it was because he wanted to have a proverbial knife to hold over Quistis' head for the next two years or something else, there was no chance she could convince him to back down. However, that gave her an advantage, since she could rewrite the terms of the bet to whatever she wanted...

"If I'm playing with these stakes, then I'm raising yours." Quistis gave her own devious grin. "If you lose, then you work for me. A lifetime of servitude as _my_ slave-boy. Unless you fail to graduate, in which case you still retire to obscurity."

Seifer's smile actually widened as she laid out her terms, and for once she knew what he was thinking. Win or lose, he knew he had her. He'd hooked her on the idea of him giving her whatever she wanted. She wasn't going to refuse the bet now. Renegotiate, maybe, but not refuse.

Still, he had one more condition to add on. Fairness; an assurance that neither of them would cheat. Seifer would win or lose entirely on his own merit, and Quistis couldn't interfere or she'd automatically lose the bet. That was fine with her. At this point she was willing to _help_ him, especially with becoming a SeeD. It was impossible for any SeeD, _especially_ him, to make instructor in two years, so she might as well make sure he graduated so she'd get a free servant for it at the end of two years.

Once they had worked through all the terms of the bet, Seifer held out his hand and Quistis, much to her own surprise, shook it without hesitation. She was actually eager to see this happen. The actual odds of him succeeding, even in the most generous estimation, were practically nonexistent.

"I'll turn in a request to have you re-admitted as a cadet first thing in the morning."

"I won't disappoint you, _Quistis_." Seifer smiled and leaned back in his chair, grabbing his drink.

"You'd better not. For all the trouble I'm going to go through for this, you'd better graduate, at least. I want to get something out of this when it's all over."

Seifer held out his glass, almost appearing sarcastic, but then it was hard for him to look like anything else given his current mood. "Here's to two productive years, and to everything that comes after."

Quistis clinked her own glass against his. One thing was certain, it was definitely going to be an interesting sight to see...


	2. First Strike

Author's Notes: Thank you to Blurgoat for the criticism. I'm not changing anything in the previous chapter, but thank you anyway. That information may be useful in future stories. In this case, though, since this is a crackfic, I'm not gonna worry about it. Within a few chapters it's probably not going to matter anyway. If the discrepancy is a problem, just call this an AU story and leave it at that.

Also, sorry if this story is taking a while to update. I'm not used to writing the more crazy and zany kind of stories, so I can't write as consistently as I can with other stories.

**Chapter Two: First Strike**

Day one, better than expected. Quistis had gotten Seifer back into Garden thanks to bribes and blackmail. After a few deals, Laguna had his prized hunter sent to Garden and Squall had a lot more contracts to work in Esthar. Laguna gets his father-son time and removes a political burden while Seifer gets back into Garden, completing the family that Cid and Matron had built. Everyone wins.

Except Zell and Selphie, who still hated Seifer, but they didn't have a chance to argue. That was politics, and it was a game Quistis played well, though it _did_ cost her some of the blackmail material she had on Xu to make sure it went through quickly.

Everything after that, slow. Seifer had to go through all his tests again, courtesy of Quistis Trepe. Most of them were too easy to even be noticed, but that just made it more annoying. There wasn't any challenge to it, just the mundane cycle of tests and exams leading up to the field exam.

Two. Months. Away.

By the end of the first week, Seifer was ready to kill himself out of boredom. Quistis had been stretching out the time between tests, probably for that specific purpose. He'd complete them all before the field exam, but only barely. Which meant he had to endure this boredom.

Fortunately, he found a way out. Zell was more than happy enough to help him relieve his boredom by sparring, and double for Selphie.

Seifer stuck his sword into the ground and tossed his trench coat onto it while Zell was busy taking off and pocketing his gloves. This was just a normal sparring match, after all. No weapons allowed yet. It was anybody's guess how long that would last.

Seifer took his stance. Sure, he wasn't normally a martial artist, but he knew more than most people realized. Usually enough to disarm an opponent before he impaled them with his gunblade.

Then, as soon as Zell had taken his fighting stance, the alarm sounded.

"Damn. Are they really that worried about us fighting?" Seifer asked idly. A second later Xu's voice blared out over the intercom.

"All SeeD and SeeD cadets, mobilize for combat immediately. SeeD, secure all Garden perimeter areas. Cadets, report to the nearest superior for orders. I repeat..."

Zell blinked and stared up at the nearest speaker, silent with confusion. "The hell...?" After a second of consideration, he immediately donned his gloves again, and Seifer followed suit, grabbing his coat and blade. "Come on, let's get to the main entrance!" Zell turned to run down the path before Seifer cut him off.

"What about the secret area?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"If 'perimeter areas' means all entrances and exits, wouldn't the secret area count? She said secure _all_ perimeter areas."

Zell stopped to consider it for a moment, but he didn't look at all convinced. "Why would any- SHIT!"

Seifer copied Zell as he dodged and rolled to one side, barely evading a fireball from one of the training area exits. He spun himself back and threw his gunblade at the person who had launched it as soon as they came into view, impaling them in the chest, killing them instantly.

Zell ran to the exit, dragging the body out of the way as Seifer pulled his blade from the man's body. Zell closed the doors and ducked behind a large shrub nearby which hid a control console for the training area. After a few seconds, the sound of moving machinery could be heard from the doors as they locked together and sealed completely.

"Xu, the training area's been breached. I think they got in through the secret area. I sealed the doors to lock them out, but we'll need a support team sent here in case they break through." Ever since the battle between the Gardens, comm links were set up in every major area to communicate with the office in case of emergencies like this.

"Unlock the doors. There's three cadets still in there; you need to get them out before you seal it up."

Zell muttered a string of swear words, trying to figure out what to do. "We don't know how many are in there! If I unlock it now-"

"Send me in, then lock it behind me." Seifer said as he walked up to the doors. "I'll search the training area, then make a circle and come back through the other exit."

"How will I know it's you?"

"You'll know, chicken-wuss."

Zell momentarily considered attacking Seifer before he considered his point. Finally, he nodded and entered the commands into the console. The door unlocked and Seifer rushed through before it slammed shut behind him.

He ran through as fast as he could, ignoring any monsters that pursued him. He'd had a hunch, and he'd been right. The people that were infiltrating still had to deal with the monsters, same as Seed, which meant they wouldn't be able to infiltrate in an organized fashion. Their best bet was to try to drive the monsters out into the halls, but that wouldn't work with the doors sealed.

On the path ahead, Seifer spotted the cadets, currently fighting with a pair of fighters wielding magic, one of which looked exactly like the one who he'd impaled just outside.

Before he could consider what that met, he was ducking under a fireball thrown from the brush on one side by... another lookalike. Rather than fight back, Seifer simply kept running. He had a suspicion that most, or even all of the people who were attacking him weren't real. The attackers could use magic, so an illusion wasn't impossible, but the question was how they were able to use it in the first place...

Rather than consider that question, Seifer ran on, throwing a few random fireballs and lightning bolts into the brush to rile up the monsters. The pair only noticed him when he finally reached them and clubbed the woman upside the head with the handle of his weapon.

"Run! Get to the exit!" The cadets didn't wait to follow orders. Between Seifer, the attackers, and the monsters that had begun swarming around them, they were practically scared shitless.

As Seifer had expected, the monsters provided a distraction for the attackers, so they were too preoccupied to keep up. Unfortunately, not all the monsters were distracted by the invaders, particularly the big monsters. As the group reached the exit, the sound of massive feet stomping into the ground echoed from behind them. They had attracted a T-Rexaur.

Seifer banged twice on the metal door, shouting through it as best he could. "Chicken-Wuss! Open the door!" He turned back toward the students, spotting the beast behind them, rapidly approaching. "When the door opens, run." He moved to take a position between the cadets and the enormous reptile, casting aura on himself while he waited, counting down the steps until it reached him.

The beast reached him just as the door opened behind him and the cadets rushed out. Seifer smirked, almost disappointed. Nobody would be around to see his moment of glory. Oh well.

"Bloodfest."

Zell paused as the trio of cadets ran out through the open exit, confused. "Where's Seifer?"

One of the cadets, still gasping for breath, motioned back to the training area. "Rex... caught us... fighting."

Shit. This was just what they needed, for Seifer to get caught by a T-Rexaur while the exit was wide open. He considered whether he should lock the gate anyway or run in to help, but his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of fire and the choked screams of a dying T-Rexaur. A few second later, Seifer ran out through the gate to join the shocked cadet team. "Close it!"

The doors closed, the locks triggered, and Zell was immediately back on the intercom. "The cadets are safe and the Training Area is locked. We're heading out to the main gate." He turned to the cadets, gesturing to the doors. "Stay here, guard the doors. A backup team will be here soon. If anyone breaks through before then, retreat and get help."

Nobody had time to argue. Zell and Seifer headed straight back to the main gate, where several SeeD teams had already gathered. Zell headed to the closest team to get a report and Seifer followed. He didn't have authority to act on his own, and as much as he wanted to find the main attacking force and dice them up, he knew that would get him kicked out.

Damn it. Couldn't these people have waited a few months to attack?

"We haven't confirmed the identity of the attackers yet. All we know is that are capable of casting magic without any apparent GF support. They're attacking every major entrance area and the forces at each area have reported multiple appearances of a single individual attacking simultaneously. We believe some kind of magic is responsible for them."

"Magic copies or illusions?" Zell chose to ignore Seifer's interruption this time. At least he was focused on the mission, which was good. If he caused problems, they'd settle them when things were calmer.

"We're not certain. Ms. Heartilly is currently working on that."

"Who's leading the defense teams?" Zell took over again and the SeeD turned to the map.

"The commander's team has split up to cover the main entrances. Ms. Trepe is guarding the entrance in the garage. Tilmett is at the quad, Kinneas has a a sniper team on the second floor balcony guarding from aerial attacks, and the majority of the remaining SeeD are here at the entrance. If I had to guess, I'd say you'd be in command in the forces here."

"Where's Squall?"

"Around. We have support teams positioned in all the sub areas, but the commander is leading a team around the first floor to check for break-ins anywhere we're not expecting."

"And the second floor?"

"We have a small SeeD team guarding the classrooms, but they haven't reported any attacks there yet."

Zell paused to think for a minute before turning back to Seifer. "Get to the second floor and give the teams there back-up. There's only one good reason they haven't hit us up there yet."

"False security." Seifer nodded and ran to the elevator. They were planning on hitting the second floor after all their initial attacks failed. That would explain the magic... things. Copies, illusions, whatever. They were cannon fodder to distract SeeD while they sent their real forces after the main target, whatever it was. The question was, why the second floor?

Seifer found the SeeD team and informed them of his orders, then he waited. He didn't like waiting, but he didn't have a choice. Orders were orders, and his pride wouldn't let him disobey orders now. He wasn't going to lose the bet...

Fortunately, good things come to those who wait. Zell and Seifer's mutual prediction had been right. After several more minutes, a wave of attackers reached the classrooms. Eall of them. Dozens of attackers, most of them copies, rushed out of the classrooms and into the halls where Seifer and the SeeD team waited.

"Target located on the second floor!" One of the non-copy attackers shouted into wrist-mounted transmitter. "All forces engaging."

"Target?" One of the SeeD turned to Seifer, her thoughts the same as Seifer's.

Shit. _He_ was the target. That's why they were attacking _now_. They had spent the week since he arrived preparing the attack. SeeD was a politically neutral party, so it was safer to attack now than it was when he was working for Esthar.

Well, that was just fucking fantastic. Still, it meant he'd get a lot more fun this way. If they wanted him, he'd take on their whole army.

The copies rushed first. No surprise there. One of the SeeD shouted something about retreating, hearing Seifer's name somewhere in there. He didn't pay attention. Getting him away wouldn't help. It would just encourage them to hit harder and fight there way inside to get to him. Better to be on the front lines, to draw all the attackers to one location where they could be held off.

Seifer cast reflect on himself just as the attacks began launching their spells at him, sending them back and destroying a good number of the copies before the rest reached him. Seifer glanced back for a split-second, noticing how far behind the SeeD team still was. Good. He didn't have to worry about accidentally hitting them.

With that knowledge in mind, Seifer began to twist and spin himself around, slicing in a whirlwind that shredded everyone who was even remotely close to him. He was betting on the hope that these men who magical copies and not clones or some shit like that. Otherwise, he was going to spend a long time cleaning all the blood out of his clothes later.

When the first wave was down, Seifer shoved aside the bodies that littered the hall and ran through to where the few unique faces stood, bombarding the SeeD behind him with magic. One started casting dispel on him to remove his shield, only now realizing that their fodder wouldn't move him back on their own.

A second wave of useless copies rushed him before he reached the main crew. They were easy to cut down. They had no real skill; they were just mindless shock troops- wait...

...mindless shock troops that could use magic?

As the second wave went down, Seifer shouted back to the SeeD team behind him. "Call Squall! Tell him to find the people controlling the copies!"

They weren't quite sure what he was talking about, but they obliged. One of the SeeD withdrew and got on the intercom and sent word to Squall and Rinoa. Hopefully they'd know what Seifer meant and they could find something useful.

Meanwhile, Seifer was busy hacking apart the second wave of nobodies, knocking the last of the stragglers out of the way to get to the important targets behind them. As much as he wanted to kill them, they'd be more useful as prisoners, so Seifer went for the legs and arms instead, avoiding the vital organs.

It didn't take long to put them down. As the third wave of fodder approached, Seifer whistled back to the SeeD, then ran ahead. While he was busy with the copies, the SeeD rounded up the wounded people behind him and dragged them off. One of the SeeD ran ahead to the balcony, knocking down a few copies along the way. More than likely he was going to tell Irvine about the situation and have him retreat to the halls to help defend.

That never happened, though. No fourth wave came. As suddenly as it started, the fighting abruptly stopped, and based on the sounds from the lower floors, it wasn't a localized occurrence.

For a minute Seifer simply stood there, waiting for the attacks to continue. Finally Irvine and his team returned from the balcony, noticing the literal blood-bath Seifer had left behind. "What the-" Irvine stopped, realizing that he probably didn't want an answer to his question. Sighing, he shook his head.

"The attacks stopped outside. Any word from the SeeD below?" His question was directed toward the SeeD team, more out of protocol than anything else. He would have just as quickly asked Seifer, but he wasn't a SeeD yet.

"Not yet. We can't hear any sounds of combat below, though. It's strange. Nobody's sent word at all, not even the main intercom."

There was a long pause as they all considered the situation, then a thought suddenly struck Seifer. "Where is Rinoa??"

"Using her powers to try to counter whatever magic these people have. She was supposed to be up on the th-" Irvine stopped and his eyes went wide with shock. "Third floor. The same place as Xu."

"And the intercom." Seifer said flatly, and instantly they were both running to the elevator, the same thought running through both their minds.

They left the SeeD team behind and headed to the third floor, where Zell was already waiting. Xu was unconscious on the floor beside her desk, but apparently uninjured. Next to her, Zell was muttering a string of profanities while trying to make the intercom work.

"Fuck. This thing's totaled. No way I can fix it." He turned to Seifer and Irvine. "Get back down to floor one, find Squall, and get him up here."

"Where's Rinoa?" Seifer ignored the order as Irvine turned back to fulfill it. No reason to send both of them. There was a crowd of SeeD below that he could order to fan out and find the boss.

"Gone. No clue where, just gone. The windows are still intact, though." Zell shoved the intercom aside and moved to helping Xu.

Seifer went to check the office anyway. As he reached the doors, he noticed something odd about his clothes. White. They were white again. No signs of blood or gore anywhere, except a few places on his gloves, which would have come from the prisoners he injured.

So they were right. Magic. Which meant they could probably do a lot more with magic. Most likely, that was the way they got in and out while all the SeeD were distracted by the attack.

To say Squall was livid when he found out didn't do it justice. He was downright murderous. When he found out about the prisoners Seifer had captured, it took his whole team to keep him from going to interrogate them personally. Finally, after several minutes of failed negotiation, Quistis took charge, enacting some SeeD code to relieve Squall of command due to 'being emotionally compromised and therefore unable to fulfill his duty'.

After they locked Squall in his room, Zell was the first to take charge. He proved to be a lot more capable commander now that he had a bit more experience. Of course, not having Squall above him to pass the responsibility to in times of emergency made it more difficult, on top of the fact that _the whole situation_ was an emergency. Still, he had the rest of his team to give him support, so he'd survive.

"Selphie, Irvine, take charge of the SeeD. Make sure everyone's accounted for and start the clean up. Quistis, Seifer, you're with me. We're gonna pay our prisoners a visit." With the prisoners detained, Zell could have handled the interrogation himself, but it would be easier with Quistis and Seifer around. They could play a bit of good-SeeD, bad-SeeD and hopefully get more answers.

When they got to the disciplinary ward (which doubled as a prison since SeeD so rarely captured anyone inside the Garden) the prisoners were surprisingly willing to talk, though nothing they said was what Zell had been expecting.

"We're willing to trade. We don't wish any harm to come to the Sorceress." The woman who led the trio of prisoners spoke while the others kept their gaze averted, trying to avoid looking at the SeeD.

"You attacked us, broke into the command office, and captured Rinoa, and now you want to trade? Do you really expect us to take this seriously?" Zell answered, keeping Quistis and Seifer outside the room for the moment. He wasn't going to waste his backup immediately. He might need their help later.

"Sorceress Rinoa was not our target. We recovered her to keep her away from potential danger."

"'Potential danger?' She has SeeD guarding her! This is the safest place in the world she could possibly be!"

"That was true a week ago. But with Seifer Almasy here, we could no longer trust you to keep the Sorceress safe from harm. We attacked in hopes of capturing or eliminating him. We failed, so we retrieved the Sorceress and removed her from the Garden in order to protect her."

"So you want to trade her for Seifer?"

"The Sorceress is returned to her knight and the threat is removed. Everybody wins."

"Everyone except _Seifer_ wins. What do you plan on doing to him after you have him?"

"I don't know. If the choice was mine, I would choose either detainment or execution, but it's not. It's up to my superiors, and I can't speak for them, except to explain our reasons for attacking."

Seifer and Quistis watched from behind the completely un-subtle one-sided mirror. Seifer wasn't surprised by this. He already knew he was the target, this merely explained why. Quistis, however, had very different feelings.

This was their fault. This attack happened because of their stupid bet, and now Rinoa was a prisoner and Seifer was the target of some army of magic-wielding humans. Squall was going to kill them both if he ever found out. Assuming they lived that long in the first place.

Zell exited the room, giving a quick order to the nearby SeeD on what to do with the prisoners before heading out of the ward, followed by Quistis and Seifer.

"What now?" Quistis asked, glancing back to Seifer, finding that he seemed completely unconcerned about what was going on. Maybe he knew – or thought he knew – what was going to happen already, or maybe he just didn't care. Given how much of a jackass he was, the latter seemed more likely.

"I'm going tell Cid and Matron about this and start planning a rescue. I'm not going to consider a trade just yet."

Seifer chuckled. "Wow, Zell, looking out for me? I'm flattered."

"No. I just don't want to set a precedent by trading with the people who just attacked us."

Seifer laughed louder this time. Yeah, no surprise there. Zell still hated him, and he was becoming quite the loyal warrior for SeeD. He wasn't quite as anal as Quistis was about protocol, but Seifer figured it was only a matter of time. "So, a rescue? How do you plan to pull that off? Better yet, how do you even plan on finding Rinoa in the first place?"

"No idea. That's the first thing we've gotta figure out."

Seifer rolled his eyes, sighing. "Oh yeah... great. No way we can fail with you in charge."

Author's Notes: In case you're wondering "Bloodfest" is a reference to one of Seifer's limit breaks that he uses against the party in one of the boss fights (for those that didn't realize he had more than one limit break). I know the story took a rather sudden turn in a completely different direction than people had expected. That's part of the point. You can bet Quistis and Seifer hadn't expected _this_ when they made their bet. And the insane problems are just getting started...

Yeah, I'm cruel to the characters. But it wouldn't be a crackfic without _something_ flying off the rails, now would it?


	3. Counterstrike

Author's Notes: I know this story is taking a while to write, but I'm trying my best to fill it with as much crack as possible while still keeping the illusion of it being serious. In any case, this chapter in particular opens the doors for quite a few options in the future, some more obvious than others, so I had fun writing it.

**Chapter Three: Counterstrike**

Zell was a prime example of how the most loyal SeeD could make the most dangerous rebels. Quistis had gotten Seifer back into Garden with a few well-placed bribes and a bit of blackmail, but she'd never actually broken any rules. She simply knew the rules well enough to know how to side-step them. She got by on technicalities and bending the rules. Zell didn't.

After informing Cid and Matron of the situation, Zell quickly got into contact with Odine's laboratory in Esthar. He had all the tools that SeeD needed to track a sorceress and then some. Laguna was, fortunately, more than willing to let Odine make use of his toys to help SeeD. He knew that Squall was livid, and if he refused to help then his hopes of rebuilding their father-son relationship would die in an instant.

Laguna was also, however, the _only_ one willing to support Zell's rescue plan. Cid and Matron were wary to give the green light due to the potential danger to Rinoa, and President Caraway and the G-government wanted SeeD to consider trading Seifer away.

Zell would have ignored them except that Caraway threatened to send his army to seize Balamb Garden if SeeD attempted an armed rescue, so Zell decided to... _compromise_.

Zell met with Caraway under the pretense of trying to work out a solution that could satisfy both SeeD and the Galbadians. Meanwhile, Xu released Squall from confinement and contacted Esthar to get the necessary information from Odine's lab. Once Rinoa was located, Xu immediately began setting up the tactical plan for their mission while Squall and Seifer handled the specific strategy.

Two teams would be sent in. First was the attack team; Squall and Seifer would rush into the main entrance and draw the fire of everyone. Everybody knew Squall would want to rescue Rinoa, and Seifer's presence would draw that many more enemies toward them. Meanwhile, the rescue team, comprised of Selphie, Irvine, and Quistis would sneak in from the side and rescue Rinoa.

Their trump card was Selphie. While the others were trained fighters, she was the only one who has specific training in infiltration and assassination. Unbeknownst to most people, she originally chose nunchaku as her weapon due to a fascination with ninja. She received training in all manner of covert maneuvers, but as she got older she had to focus more on the general training in order to have any hope of graduating.

Before this, the closest thing she'd had to a covert operation was the infiltration of the Galbadia Missile base. While it was successful, it was an operation that depended on their ability to blend in with the Galbadian soldiers and talk their way through, not skulk in the shadows and slit people's throats. Now she had an opportunity to return to her first love – or rather her second, after trains. She would head in first and eliminate all the guards in their way to open the path for Irvine and Quistis to get Rinoa out.

Once everything was ready, the Ragnarok was sent to recover Zell from Vector - the new name for the former Deling City - before immediately heading to the site where Rinoa was being held.

As soon as they left, Zell's final order went into effect. Squall and his entire team were designated rogue SeeD, therefore making them exempt of all SeeD protocol and leaving Balamb Garden safe from Galbadian retaliation.

While Quistis was a master of bending the rules, Zell simply ignored them. He believed that some things were simply _right_, and rules be damned if they got in the way of him doing said right thing.

They wouldn't suffer from it, at any rate. If they succeeded, all would be forgiven. If they failed, it wouldn't matter either way.

Zell and Xu remained on the Ragnarok, in contact with the ground teams and feeding them information from the Estharian high-altitude observation drones, another gift from President Laguna to make their job a little easier.

As they approached, the rescue team dropped first at low altitude, into a forest over a mile away. The Ragnarok made a large loop around the settlement of the weird magic-users to land on a clearing much closer at the far side. Squall and Seifer exited and headed straight toward the settlement. Both of them were eager to start the fight, but more importantly they had to make this attack look real so that nobody would be expecting the second team.

Seifer took point. Together, he and Squall were armed with a small army of GFs, but Seifer in particular was given the better attack summons to lay waste to the defenders while Squall did his part to help using _technology_.

As expected, when they approached the defenders flooded out of the settlement, but they weren't humans or body-copies like before. They were monsters. Hundreds and hundreds of monsters.

Part of Seifer wanted to know where they kept all those things stored, or at least how they managed to summon and control them in the first place, but now wasn't the time for that. He rushed into the fray, summoning Bahamut, on loan from SeeD, to blow a hole in the center of the wave, splitting it in two.

Behind him, Squall had set up and locked on, using an Estharian laser-targeting system to designate a target in the center of one of the two groups. It was only a few seconds before the Ragnarok swept back over the battlefield, firing several homing missiles into the fray and obliterating most of the monsters present.

Seifer rushed the remaining group, summoning Fenrir, his most trusted GF, just as he reached them. The massive wolf creature proceeded to maim and butcher everything in sight while Seifer waded through the bodies and cut down everything that evaded his comrade. Squall, meanwhile, finished off the remainder of the monsters that had taken the missile strike and rushed in after Seifer to help him finish the other monsters. Reinforcements would likely come soon, so they had to finish these off as fast as they could and prepare for the next wave.

Their battle proceeded in a fairly straightforward fashion. Meet the wave, slaughter them, advance a little, meet the next wave, and on it went. During the end of the second wave, the rescue team finally reached the outer wall at the far side of the settlement. Odine's toys kept them hidden from any magical scrying, so all eyes remained on Squall and Seifer. Except for Irvine's, which were stuck on Quistis and Selphie.

All of the SeeD in the mission were given field uniforms from Esthar. They had been manufactured specifically for use by SeeD by order of Laguna. Several versions existed; Seifer and Squall got the combat suits that were armored to withstand both physical and magical damage. The rescue team was given the sneaking suits, all of which did a good job of emphasizing the wearer's figure – a fact which Irvine particularly enjoyed given that the team was being led by his girlfriend. All of the suits slightly enhanced the physical abilities of the wearer, making the job of fighting – or climbing and jumping – much easier for the SeeDs. Odine had enjoyed making those suits in order to test several new toys he had been working on and nobody was complaining, especially since they were probably the only reason the rescue team had gotten as far as they did.

Selphie quickly ascended the wall, stopping at the top to get a better look at the settlement. It had a unique design, and one which she could take advantage of. The buildings were stone, built in some kind of archaic design. They were sturdy but lacked windows, which made it easy for her to get inside any of them that she wanted. They were clustered and stacked together in tight formations with walkways between them. There were a few open spaces, but most of the space within the wall was filled with buildings. The bad news was that there was a lot of people there. The good news was things were built in such a way that she wouldn't be anywhere where she could be spotted for very long.

She tossed the rope down the wall then jumped across the gap to the nearest building with the rope in hand, securing it to the building on her end as Irvine anchored it on the other. She crouched down and remained stationary, getting what glimpses she could of the battle in the distance while Quistis and Irvine ascended the wall and climbed over to the building, the first of a string of houses.

"_Location?"_ Irvine whispered to Quistis, who was busy checking the small computer pad on her wrist.

"_The large building in the center, right where we thought. But there's a problem..."_ Quistis muttered, shaking her head and closing the computer. _"She's low. Ground floor, maybe even underground. This won't be as easy as we thought."_

Selphie simply stood up, running and jumping across to the next building, then the next, stopping to wait for them to catch up before continuing. Normally she was an explosive ball of emotion, but this time she was quiet, focused... and creepy as all hell. A quiet Selphie was strange in its own right, and the fact that she wore knives and other various weapons all over her suit didn't help the situation in the least.

Selphie bounded across to the final building before the central one, stopping at the edge to catch a quick glance at everyone on the ground. There weren't many people watching. Most were either on the far side focusing on Squall and Seifer or indoors somewhere. That meant she'd only have to deal with the guards inside the building where Rinoa was being held.

She drew back and motioned to Quistis, who was already checking the core structure with her IR goggles. After a moment she passed them to Selphie and turned to check her scanner again, hoping they could get a better signal since they were closer.

Not many guards up above. Good. Three windows, two rooms... the one with two windows had a guard, which meant she had to take the other one. Easy enough. More guards down below from the looks of it, but it was hard to tell through the walls. She'd have to get closer to be sure.

"_How's it look?"_

Quistis shook her head lightly, turning the scanner off. _"Not much better. I think these people's magic is messing with the scanner. I can't get a clear reading."_

"_I'll handle it."_ Selphie stated simply, removing the IR goggles and passing them back to Quistis. She drew two items from her belt, a knife and a Estharian medical syringe with a red label. She had three colors on her belt, red, green, and blue, though she was the only one in the group who knew what any of them did.

Suddenly she ran forward and bounded across the gap between buildings, launching herself through the open window with surprising precision, disappearing from the view of Quistis and Irvine. Inside, she rolled as she landed, jumping to a stand and spinning around, putting her back to the wall beside the wooden door. The suit was certainly coming in handy. She wouldn't have been able to move as fast or fluidly without it and that jump could have caused her problems as well.

Now that she was inside, she moved to full infiltration mode and turned on all her toys. Donning a pair of opaque goggles, she switched her sonar on and pressed her palm to the wall, looking around to get a view of everything. One guard in the room beside hers. One other on that floor. Good. Easier than she expected.

She rushed out the door and down to the next room, practically jumping into the room to grab the guard by the neck from behind, cutting off the blood to his brain and causing him to quickly pass out. One down. She pulled off her goggles to check his face and clothes. He had no weapons and wasn't dressed like a guard. It figured. He was likely just a resident of this building. All the real guards were probably watching the outer walls and Rinoa. Well, no matter. It just meant her job would get even easier.

She went out and bolted down the hall to the room with the next person. Stopping at the door, she waited, watching through the wall. As soon as the man turned away from the door she rushed in, grabbing him from behind and covering his mouth with one hand while she put a knife to his throat with the other.

"Tell me where the Sorceress is. Refuse and I cut your throat. Scream and I'll stick you with a poison that will paralyze you and make you _wish_ you were dead." She pulled her hand off his mouth, grabbing the syringe from her other wrist and putting it to his neck in one smooth motion.

"Bottom floor, underground." He blurted out almost instantly. He couldn't see her face so he didn't know who he was dealing with, but he was scared shitless nonetheless. She idly wondered whether he'd be more or less scared if he actually saw her face.

"How do I get there? Stairs, or is there some special hatch? And how many guards are down there?"

"S- stairs. It's not hidden. There's only a- a couple guards. Most are outside o- or on the ground floor." He was stuttering out of pure fear, and Selphie liked that for some reason. She rarely scared people in more than a superficial way. Seeing someone utterly terrified for their life gave her an indescribable rush. But she'd have to ignore that for now and focus on the mission. She could reminisce about it after they all got back to Garden.

"Why aren't there more guards watching her?"

"W... watching? We can't hold her if we tried!" He half-shouted under his breath, glancing back slightly to look to one wall, still not looking back far enough to see any of Selphie's face. "Our boss convinced her not to fight. Most of the people here are civilians and she doesn't want to hurt people. Even with our powers, if she tried to break out we'd all be dead."

"Thanks." Selphie slid the syringe back onto her belt and grabbed the man's neck, knocking him out like the first one. Well, that made things almost stupefyingly easy. All eyes on Squall and Seifer? Oh well. She wasn't about to make a spectacle just to make things challenging. There was too much at stake, and besides that she also didn't like the idea of killing innocents. Hopefully, after this was over SeeD would assign her more missions like this and she would be able to get a real challenge.

She quickly headed back to the room where she entered. Quistis and Irvine were already busy climbing across a rope into the window. Quistis had been watching Selphie with her IR goggles. As soon as she got to the second man, they started moving across into the building, though it took them quite a bit longer than it took her since neither of them was brave enough to jump across into the window and risk hitting the wall of they missed.

Selphie quickly filled them in on what she learned and they switched to their individual infiltration modes. Quistis was using infrared scanners to track all the potential threats in the building while Irvine used a specialized motion tracking system that was coupled to his gun. Their suits blocked their heat signatures, so Quistis only detected enemies and didn't need to distinguish between targets.

As for Irvine, the system Odine designed was better than any scope he could imagine. With it, he could stand on one side of the outer wall and snipe rats on the far side. Not only that, but when coupled with Selphie's sonar technology and special polymer bullets from the lab he could actually make shots that reflected off walls and hit targets that he couldn't even see.

They headed down, floor by floor, knocking out everyone they came across so that nobody gave them trouble on the way out if and when everyone in the settlement was alerted to their presence. When they reached the ground floor they simply skipped it and went down again. No use in trying to take out everyone on that floor only to have more flood in when the alarm went off.

No guards except the ones at the end of the hall, in the room where the Rinoa was. Two big guys and somebody talking to the girl at the back of the room. The guards were near the door and the other figure was further in. It would be easy if they all went in at once...

Selphie and Quistis waited at one side of the closed door while Irvine stood back several feet, his gun aimed straight out toward where the figure would be standing when the door opened. Selphie did a quick countdown with her fingers, throwing the door open and grabbing one of the guards as she hit zero. Behind her, Quistis moved to grab the other and Irvine rushed in, putting his gun forward to meet the face of the figure as she spun around.

"Yo." Irvine said simply, cocking his gun for emphasis as Selphie and Quistis finished knocking out the guards. Normally suffocation worked, but they simply didn't have time this time, so Selphie used her blue syringe, which turned out to be a potent sedative, to knock out the guard she was holding, followed immediately by the one Quistis was holding.

Either way, thank God for strength-enhancing GFs and combat suits. Otherwise they never would have been able to overpower those brutes.

"Se- Qu- What- What the _hell_?!" Rinoa stood, as stunned by their sudden entrance as everyone else, trying to form words as Selphie quickly cut off the chain bracelet on her wrist – probably something magical, but she wasn't going to stop and study it - and started leading her to the door.

"We're here to rescue you. Come on." Selphie practically dragged Rinoa to the door before the girl finally broke away from her grip and stepped back.

"No! I can't leave, not yet." Rinoa took several more steps back to keep Selphie from grabbing her arm again. The woman standing nearby glanced back to Rinoa but didn't move or do anything that might tighten Irvine's trigger finger.

"Rinoa, what the hell? We have to get you out of here before anyone finds the people upstairs. Now's not the time to play damsel in distress!"

"Upstairs." The woman cut in, turning her gaze to Irvine. "Did you kill anyone?"

"Not _yet_." He tapped his thumb on the hammer of his gun twice for emphasis. Normally he was more relaxed, but they'd gone after one of his friends and that made him pissed.

"I'm not playing! Selphie, these people need my help. I have to stay here with them, at least for a little while." Rinoa cut back in, looking half-panicked by the prospect of leaving for some reason that her friends couldn't even begin to guess at.

Selphie simply stared at Rinoa for a few seconds, her expression saying all that she thought. The girl had gone crazy. Totally batshit crazy. These people attacked the Garden, tried to kill Seifer and kidnapped her, and now she was talking about _helping_ them?

"Squall's not gonna like that." Irvine replied when Selphie said nothing, glancing to Rinoa for a split second before turning back to the woman in front of him.

"Wait... Squall. Is Squall _here_?"

"Outside. With Seifer, attacking the front gate." The woman replied, narrowing her eyes slightly at Quistis when she mentioned Seifer's name. The blonde suddenly got the feeling that she knew a whole lot more than anyone was supposed to know. It was possible she simply knew about the tricks Quistis used to get him back in Garden, but her eyes said she knew a lot more... how much more was a question that terrified Quistis depending on what the answer was...

"Damn it! Selphie, you have to call them off immediately!"

"Why the hell would we do that? They're the only reason we got in here in the first place and if they leave there's no way we'll get out."

"Selphie, _please_. If they get inside the wall then a lot of people are going to die – _innocent_ people, and I-"

"Innocent?!" Selphie nearly shouted back, though she kept her voice somewhat low to keep from alerting more guards. "They attacked Garden, they captured you, they tried to _kill_ Seifer, and you're calling them innocent??"

"Seifer was just a ruse." The woman replied, standing still and calm, her eyes locked on Irvine and his gun. She was prepared to jump out of the way to save herself at the last second if he was about to pull the trigger, but she wouldn't have more than an instant to recognize when that might happen, so she was constantly wary. "Our original target was Sorceress Rinoa. We simply used Seifer's presence as an excuse to justify our attack in order to delay SeeD response. We'd expected at least a few more days before you'd mount a rescue attempt."

"I don't get it." Quistis cut in before Selphie could reply. "How did you not expect a rescue when Squall and Seifer attacked?"

"Because they're crazy." She replied smoothly. "Squall is obsessively protective of Lady Rinoa, and Seifer is... well, he's Seifer."

"Bullshit. The Ragnarok aided in the attack, you must have known they had help. You're hiding something from us." Quistis narrowed her eyes at the woman, who returned the gesture but said nothing. Yes, she was definitely hiding something and she clearly had no making it known to them.

"You were blind, weren't you?" Irvine asked in a rather curious tone. Selphie raised an eyebrow, glancing to the woman then back to him as he continued. "Seifer didn't exactly have a parade when he returned to Garden. Civvies wouldn't know about it. You had a spy who was feeding you intel, and he... or _she_ didn't know about our attack."

"Who the hell would betray SeeD? I mean, there's plenty of people who hate Seifer, but... who could have found a village of magic users in Galbadia to sell us out? It's only been a week!" Selphie glanced to the woman, who was still silent, then back to Rinoa who merely shook her head. They hadn't told her anything about this yet so she was as clueless as the rest of them.

Quistis stepped forward, locking eyes with the woman again. "There's no way we'll just call off the attack. Like you said, they're crazy, but... they'll stop if we tell them we have Rinoa."

"You expect me to just let you walk out?" The woman asked, still calm but much more tense than before. What Irvine said had struck home. There was a spy and she was wary of revealing any information about it. She was at a major disadvantage and was hoping to limit her losses at this point.

"You don't have a choice. We're leaving one way or another. But either way, I doubt it'll work out well for you."

"Either way?"

"Whether we get out before or after Squall and Seifer get here. Even if they don't kill your people, somebody else may..."

"Quistis, what the hell are you talking about?" Selphie cut in, trying to make sense of what the woman was doing. Who else would attack the casters and what did it have to do with everything else?

"Your best option is to come with us. As a prisoner." Quistis said flatly, ignoring Selphie. The woman stared back at her coldly, but she didn't immediately dismiss the suggestion despite how insane it sounded.

"Quistis, tell me what's going on. _NOW_." Selphie hissed out. She rarely gave orders, but that was because they had been following her without question before, anyway. Now Quistis was playing some weird political game, and last time she did that it brought Seifer and all this trouble to garden. Selphie wasn't about to let her pull this crap again without letting the rest of them know what was going on.

"The spy isn't SeeD, it's Galbadian." Quistis flashed a smile to the woman before glancing over to Selphie. "And I doubt it's even a spy. The Galbadians wanted Seifer out of the Garden, so they conscripted these people to do it. In exchange they get Rinoa here to _help_ them while Caraway tries to get us to turn Seifer over to these people so they can send him o D-district, or god-knows-where else..."

Irvine's eyes went wide, but he was careful to keep his gun on target. Selphie simply went silent with shock for a minute before her brain added up all the numbers and pieced the rest together.

"So... if we take her prisoner, we'll have someone who knows all about the deal with Galbadia. They won't be willing to attack this place if there's a risk that we'll bring out the truth and humiliate them in front of the world."

"Not to mention their own populace." Quistis finished. "And the fact that President Caraway, the leader of Galbadia _and_ Rinoa's father knew about it would only make it that much worse. They'd lose all credibility before the rest of the world, the President would be forced to step down, and Seifer might even be painted as a hero in all this."

"That benefits you far more than it does us." The woman answered, not specifically saying that they were right, but from her tone it was an obvious assumption. "Don't forget about the powers we have. In a head-to-head fight against Galbadia, we won't fall easily. They'll be wary of attacking us already from the threat of losing most of their military forces."

"Yes, but you still need a sorceress, and Rinoa is with SeeD. She wants to help you already; if you cooperate, we might be able to let her do so."

"Wait... Rinoa." Selphie cut in, glancing back to the girl who was taking the entire revelation disturbingly well. In fact, she didn't even seem remotely surprised by it.

"We told her all about it. She knew her father coordinated the capture from the start." The woman cut in again, taking hold of the conversation before Rinoa had a chance to reply. A usual tactic for people in negotiations hoping to gain as much of an advantageous position as possible. "If you want a deal, fine, but you call of those two before I help you."

"No, _you_ call off your defenders so we don't have to worry about getting caught. Then we call _them_ off, _then_ you agree with us as a prisoner, and then we fill Squall in on what really happened and organize a meeting so you two can talk about the terms of how and when Rinoa will be brought back here to help you all."

There was a long pause as the woman considered the options, bearing in mind all the while that she had little time before Squall and Seifer got too close to call off at all. Finally, she sighed resignedly.

"Fine. I'll go up and call off the guards, but Sorceress Rinoa comes with me."

"Like hell she does!" Irvine locked the gun on her face and narrowed his eyes.

"Without her there, nobody will-"

"Go." Selphie cut them all off, motioning to a very shocked Rinoa to head up to the surface.

"Selphie, what the hell?" Irvine narrowed his eyes back at her. Had _she_ lost her mind now?

"They're not going to hurt her. Even if they wanted to, their weapons are magic and she's a _sorceress_. She'll be fine. Now _go_, you two!"

The woman didn't wait for Selphie to reconsider. She headed straight past Irvine as soon as his focus wavered. Rinoa followed immediately after her and they rushed up the stairs and outside. Fortunately, the SeeDs didn't have to wait more than a minute before Rinoa returned and led them all up to the – hopefully – safe surface.

All eyes were on them, but nobody made a move to attack. Selphie motioned to Quistis and Irvine to detain the woman, who was standing near the door, while she got on the intercom with Zell to send a message across to the attack team.

The rest of the mission was a short and unexciting blur. As soon as they pried Rinoa and Squall apart long enough to get them out of the settlement and onto the Ragnarok they briefed the rest of the team on the situation and plan. The reactions to the news about Caraway was mixed, but generally much more controlled than would have been expected. The fact that they were now in control of the situation probably had something to do with it.

Given that Zell was still the acting commander until they returned to Garden, he had a brief conversation with Celes – the woman who led the settlement who they had captured – and interviewed her about the situation with Galbadia. He got only general information as she was only willing to divulge all the details to Squall, but he got enough for now. He could keep the Galbadians at bay for at least a while until Squall was re-instituted as commander and interrogated the prisoner personally.

They set course for Balamb Garden, bypassing the G-army forces along the way. Time to head home to confront Caraway...


End file.
